My wife and I are in Portland on vacation, and I have had the chance to try GF beers from 3 breweries. I thought I would offer my brief tasting notes to the GF homebrewing comunity.
Over all my take home message is that my best batches of GF beer (and probably many of yours) are up there with the best available comercially. Many of these beers were very good (I would have been happy with them if I had made them), but in general they suffered from many of the same shortcommings as my own.
Harvester AKA. Ground Breaker brewery...100% GF brewery and gastropub:
I tried 7 of their beers they were all good but the "IPA#2" stood out as the best for me. All of their beers were dry and slightly thin(like many of my GF homebrews) The IPA#2 had a nice balance of bitterness and hop aroma that went well with the malt base. The IPA#3 was too biter for me given the light body of the beer. The "dark Ale" was dry and had some very nice roasty flavors that aparently come from roasted chestnut...This beer makes me want to play with chestnut chips again. But did not have much true malty flavor, more of a roasted flavor...my atempts at dark GF styles have all had this same character. Roasted grain/starch does not taste the same as dark malts that have malliard reaction products.
All the food a the attached gastropub is gluten free, the food was fantastic and the prices were reasonable. I would be here allot if I lived in Portland.
Walkaboutbrewing company, gluten free ale:
light, dry, no malt character, nicly hopped. This reminded me of Saporo with a little more hop arroma (yes at one point in my life I drank real beer). It was light, crisp, and clearly had a good bit of rice in it. It was very refreshing but very simple.
Deschutes gluten free NWPA:
Made from rice, honey, and candi syrup, this was the best beer I sampled. It had the most "beer like" charicter and body. Both honey and candi syrup can be a crutch for GF brewers (I have made beers that over used them in the past, and recognize the flaws that can come with that) this beer did not have those flaws. It is a classic pale ale that tastes very much like a non GF pale ale... I know that they only have one GF offering and have to make it a style that is broadly palatable, but this beer could really be somthing very special with more late addition/dry hops. It gets a thumbs up, I would love to see a recipe for this beer as it could be the basis for a lot of good GF homebrew experiments.
I hope this is helpfull and inspiring
Over all my take home message is that my best batches of GF beer (and probably many of yours) are up there with the best available comercially. Many of these beers were very good (I would have been happy with them if I had made them), but in general they suffered from many of the same shortcommings as my own.
Harvester AKA. Ground Breaker brewery...100% GF brewery and gastropub:
I tried 7 of their beers they were all good but the "IPA#2" stood out as the best for me. All of their beers were dry and slightly thin(like many of my GF homebrews) The IPA#2 had a nice balance of bitterness and hop aroma that went well with the malt base. The IPA#3 was too biter for me given the light body of the beer. The "dark Ale" was dry and had some very nice roasty flavors that aparently come from roasted chestnut...This beer makes me want to play with chestnut chips again. But did not have much true malty flavor, more of a roasted flavor...my atempts at dark GF styles have all had this same character. Roasted grain/starch does not taste the same as dark malts that have malliard reaction products.
All the food a the attached gastropub is gluten free, the food was fantastic and the prices were reasonable. I would be here allot if I lived in Portland.
Walkaboutbrewing company, gluten free ale:
light, dry, no malt character, nicly hopped. This reminded me of Saporo with a little more hop arroma (yes at one point in my life I drank real beer). It was light, crisp, and clearly had a good bit of rice in it. It was very refreshing but very simple.
Deschutes gluten free NWPA:
Made from rice, honey, and candi syrup, this was the best beer I sampled. It had the most "beer like" charicter and body. Both honey and candi syrup can be a crutch for GF brewers (I have made beers that over used them in the past, and recognize the flaws that can come with that) this beer did not have those flaws. It is a classic pale ale that tastes very much like a non GF pale ale... I know that they only have one GF offering and have to make it a style that is broadly palatable, but this beer could really be somthing very special with more late addition/dry hops. It gets a thumbs up, I would love to see a recipe for this beer as it could be the basis for a lot of good GF homebrew experiments.
I hope this is helpfull and inspiring
